The Red Thread of Destiny

We are all invisibly connected to all the people in the world whose lives we are destined to affect. Chinese folklore refers to this as the red thread of destiny or the red string of fate.

This thread which is tied to us and connects us to everyone we are destined to ever meet can bend, twist and tangle but it can never break as fate will always create circumstances that allow us to achieve these fateful encounters with other people.

It’s this red thread theory that makes me smile when I think about life, because it means we have all met who we’ve met for a reason; all those people we consider our friends and family, even our acquaintances … We all serve a purpose for one another. Of course, this is all open to interpretation, but this is what I believe. There is a reason we are in one anothers’ lives and it’s not just by chance.

Say what you will about a divine plan for us all, but if you really think about it, you can see ways in which the red thread theory could be considered to be real. Or perhaps it will manifest itself if enough people believe in the folklore? Who’s to say it doesn’t already exist, since it’s supposedly invisible? (These are the kinds of things I think about by the way…I go way beyond face value…)

I’m not saying each of us will have a profound effect on each others’ life or that we wouldn’t carry on living our day to day lives without each other, but it’s certainly clear to me that we each serve a purpose to one another…

Whether it’s to be a close friend whom you depend on in daily life, someone whose judgement is required before buying a certain outfit and accepted without question, or whether it’s to be a distant contact in another part of the world whom you reach out to in a time of need because you need someone impartial or someone who’ll just listen, whether it’s to be someone you can call up for help with a broken computer, or whether it’s to be a medical professional to advise you on your ailments and keep you in check – these are all purposes which are fulfilled by the people in our lives.

It’s not a drastic purpose and a lot of the time it wouldn’t be an epic loss if these people weren’t in touch anymore, but it’s a purpose, and a reason for the red thread to connect us together. We were destined to meet these people because they would fulfill a need, in essence, they would perform a job or fill a gap in our lives and would keep us on our ultimate path; that’s what the red thread is about – to make sure we meet those whom will shape who we become.

I believe our journey in life is not complete until we’ve met all those people whose lives we are destined to touch. I believe each of those people – in some minute way – affect the type of person we become and continue to become, and they keep us on the path to wherever it is in life we are heading… They keep us heading towards our ultimate purpose, and likewise, we do the same for them; we serve a purpose in their lives and are here to keep them on the track towards their ultimate purpose in life.

We all have a reason to be here - let us never forget that.

We all have a destiny and the red thread that connects us to all the people we know, helps us all to fulfill our individual destinies… And if you think about it, by doing so, it helps us all to fulfill the global destiny of humankind.

Humans need other humans around them in order to feel
alive, connected, touched.